Government & Politics

Slovenia labels Hezbollah in its entirety as terrorist group It becomes the sixth European Union member after the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to recognize the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

(JNS) Slovenia’s government announced on Monday that it “adopted a decision on treating the Hezbollah Group as a criminal and terrorist organization posing a threat to peace and security.” The government noted that “Hezbollah’s activities are intertwined with organized crime and the […]

Legal

‘Grave consequences’ if convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika freed: court A convicted terrorist who hasn’t renounced ‘violent jihad’ is due to be released from prison — but authorities are arguing it would be too dangerous.

(NCA NewsWire) A convicted terrorist who the Australian government want to keep behind bars for another three years has not renounced “violent jihad,” a court has been told. Abdul Nacer Benbrika has spent 15 years behind bars after he was found guilty […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

‘Insulting beliefs far from freedom’: Turkish president Ideological fanaticism has gained more ground, Turkish president tells annual convention of Muslim American Society

(Anadolu) Decrying rising Islamophobia in Western countries, the Turkish president said Saturday that insulting people’s beliefs has nothing to do with freedom. “You have been closely following the meanness in France towards the Prophet [Muhammad] under the label of ‘freedom of thought’,” […]

Crime

German minister wants ‘criminals’ expelled to Syria, despite asylum safeguards Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants Germany's general ban on deportations to war-torn Syria weakened to return persons deemed criminal or dangerous. Rights groups accuse him of pandering to the far right.

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s current general deportation stop to Syria should not be extended, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Friday, urging that individual case-by-case decisions be made “at least for criminals and those considered a threat.” In 2012, Germany passed a ban on […]

Clerics & Preachers

Danish minister’s comment on sex before marriage angers Muslims Mattias Tesfaye has suggested the Muslim community should support the ‘right’ to sex before marriage for Muslim women.

(Al-Jazeera) A Danish minister has caused outrage among the Muslim minority for suggesting imams and community leaders should publicly support the “right” to have sex before marriage for women. Mattias Tesfaye, foreign affairs and integration minister, said in a Facebook post last […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

Congress pays $850,000 to Muslim aides targeted in inquiry stoked by Trump The House resolved wrongful termination claims by five Pakistani-American technology workers whose case was twisted into a right-wing conspiracy theory pushed by President Trump.

(NY Times) The House of Representatives quietly paid $850,000 this year to settle wrongful termination claims by five Pakistani-American technology specialists, after a set of routine workplace allegations against them morphed into fodder for right-wing conspiracy theories amplified by President Trump. Together, […]

Academics & Education

House speaker appoints activist called ‘anti-Muslim’ to Tennessee textbook commission

(Tennessean) Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s recent appointment of long-time activist Laurie Cardoza-Moore to the Tennessee State Textbook Commission is already garnering backlash from some community members. On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) — the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization — called on […]

Clerics & Preachers

Canadian imam calls Jews ‘brothers of monkeys and pigs’ B’nai Brith Canada asks police to investigate imam with a history of anti-Semitic and radical Islamic incitement.

(World Israel News) B’nai Brith Canada contacted police to investigate an Islamic religious leader in British Columbia for his latest incitement against Jews, the organization said [in] a statement Tuesday. Local imam Younus Kathrada in the provincial capital of Victoria posted a […]